News

June-July 2018

Appearing in the Colorado New Play Festivalas music director and guitarist in a workshop of the play/musical adaptation of Tender Mercies. Come by June 10-16 for open rehearsals and performances in Steamboat Springs, Colorado!

Performing with Kareem Salama in Toronto, Canada for the FastInThe6open air festival concert. Come by if you are in the Toronto area! Sharing the bill with comedian Mo Amer and Canadian country singer Kelsi Mayne.

Also: performing, conducting, and musical contributor for an original musical of Sherlock Holmes in Houston’s Western Academy!

The 2nd-3rd week of June I’ll be at Django In June in Smith College (Massachusetts). Lots of plucking on my Viteri D-Hole guitar.

May 2017

May 12th I’ll be performing guitar and percussion in a production of ‘Zorro‘ with an all original script and all original music at Western Academy. The multi-talented Josh Applebee is at the helm for sound and mixing.

March 2017

Here’s a recently surfaced interview from a previous tour to Malaysia from Penang Monthly.

June 11th Performing on mandolin for Feste Romane with the Texas Music Festival. Trying out a new Collins mandolin!

May 2016

The Houston Craze (aka the Krays) return for the Madness on Main Festival, 10PM on the Continental Club Main Stage!

Also, I’ll be performing on mandolin at the Texas Music Festival for Respighi’s Feste Romane in early June at the Moore’s Opera House! Keep an eye out…

April 2016

Super high octane show with Craig Kinsey at the brand-new Raven Tower. Climb to the windy stairs and take a look out over the city from the rooftop terrace.

March 2016

Multi-night performances at SXSW in Austin Texas. Shared the night with co-conspiratorCraig Kinsey, Guy Forsyth, Moji Abiola, Chris Whitten, and so, so many other musicians at Hotel St. Cecilia. Bill Murray, Led Zeppelin, and Green Day were all spotted at the venue along with a bevvy of Houstonians. A BIG thanks to Tammy Dowe and Esperson Gallery for bringing the love to Austin.

February 2016

Stopped by the famed Sugar Hill Studio B for a great recording sesh with Jonathan Lee Chan and Tyson Sheth!

Also snuck in a quick trip to NYC and finished February with a multi-night run playing the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Cookoff with Anacarina Acunya. Great tunes and lots of BBQ!

January 2016

The Houston Craze, aka the Krays, have released our first single recorded at the Alley Theatre and free to enjoy!

January 9th 2016 the Houston Craze plays DAVID BOWIE/ELVIS FEST! A must see show if there was one.

December 2015

In between mixing and tracking this month… a gig at the Houston Zoo. Guitar lighting up the Zoo Aquarium for Zoo Lights Nights.

November 2015

Reviews are in!Broadway Worldraves over the show, including a nod to “flawless southern guitar licks“. Awww shucks.

Houston swing trio Tin Floor also came by to track and mix a new record with some sweet and low down picking.

October 2015

One Man, Two Guvnors opens October 7 and runs through November 1! Check out the preview article in the Houston Press, and stay tuned for TV/Media appearances later in the month. We’ll be doing almost 40 performances throughout the run – come by! Tickets now on sale.

September 2015

Super excited to announce I will be playing guitar in the Tony-winning Alley Theatre’s production of the Broadway/West End smash, One Man, Two Guvnors!! The play runs all of October through Nov. 1 and features a house band playing skiffle and vintage rock and roll. I’ll be on lead guitar and vocals with a quartet that backs the brilliantly talented cast under artistic director Gregory Boyd and Music Director Gregg Coffin. A VERY funny show with a sweet band.

August 2015

Check out some recent press from the New Strait Times from the 2015 Asia tour (Mike pictured on left):

July 2015

Thanks to guitar luthier Mike Viteri for his beautiful work on a new D-Hole Selmer style guitar. This guy is the real deal folks – brilliant craftsman and a killer guitar player too!

June 2015

I’ll be traveling to the Django In June Festival in Northampton, MA at Smith College along with at least a few other Houstonians. If you are in the area stop by and see if the Texans can keep up with some of the monstrously talented artists in this year’s lineup including Europe’s gypsy violin/guitar great Tcha Limberger, Paris’ RP Quartet, and Germany’s Joscho Stephan.

May 2015

Stopped in to the Treehouse Studio at Sugar Hill Studios with Grammy winning Steve Christensento lay down a couple tracks/mixes for Craig Kinsey’s upcoming release. Guitar hero Kelly Doyle laid down a monstrous solo in this take.

April 2015

2015 is proving a busy year… Here’s a photo before the performance with the Orchestra of America/Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra joint concert in the Hilbert Circle Theatre. I played mandolin on Respighi’s Feste Romane, and as one Indy Orchestra member joked – “ahhh the mandolin, what would a symphony orchestra be without it!” Thanks also to conductor Franz Krager for his lively baton.

Last month also included a performance on guitar backing up Tony-winning opera and Broadway star Audra Macdonald with Noe Marmolejo’s MSM Jazz Orchestra. Audra is a brilliant performer with a brilliant voice!

Pictures from the Malaysia tour added as they come in! Also, in March 2015 I will join the Orchestra of America in a shared concert with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at Indiana’s Hilbert Circle Theater performing mandolin, as well as performing with the University of Houston Symphony Orchestra at the end of February.

January 2015

Just added! I will be joining my good friends Kareem Salama and JJ Worthen playing guitar in Malaysia for the 2015 Miri Music Festival. We will also be partnering with the US State Department to play at many other events in the region. More details as they come…

November 2014

Performance dates added at theHouston City Club, as well as the historic Rice Hotel. Additional appearances with guitar virtuoso Kelly Doyle in December and January.

New Release! Trio releases worldwide August 1st 2014 featuring new arrangements of jazz standards and recorded at the oldest continually operating Recording Studio in America, Sugar Hill Studio’s famed Studio A. The session included beautifully generous playing by Daleton Lee on drums and Gerald Massoud on upright bass. Available on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.

Craig Kinsey CD Release Party set for July 26th featuring New West Recording Artist Buxton (one of Esquire’s “Artists to Watch”) and Austin-based The Happen-Ins. The record features a 14-minute epic poem about the Civil War with choirs, strings, drums and fifes, about 20 verses, and a stellar recording from Grammy-winning engineer Steve Christensen. I had the honor of producing and performing on the record, as well as composing a 19th century styled choral score in the Sacred Harp tradition of American Roots music. Can’t wait for everyone to hear it!

The group appeared on the News Fix Ky Meyers program documenting the record’s release in an on-air performance and interview:

Pre-production work begins on a Trio recording featuring a new arrangement of the classic Monk tune, Straight No Chaser, as well as the classic When You Wish Upon a Star. Meanwhile, post-production has finished on Craig Kinsey’s record American Roots and Machines with a worldwide release date of July 26th. In the midst of recordings, this summer is winding up with a Jazz on 19th St show and other big nights in the works!

Playing with Craig Kinsey, March 22 at the Haute Wheels Festival at Houston Community College. Good news on Kinsey’s upcoming album – the record was mastered by yours truly and shipped off to be printed. Previews coming soon…

February 2014

Performing on guitar with the UH Jazz Orchestra, featuring artist Brad Leali (Harry Connick Jr, Count Basie Band) on alto sax. Part of the Moores School of Music Jazz Festival starting Feb 27 and leading up to the concert Saturday night, March 1st 7:30 PM at the Moores Opera House.

January 2014

Performing with the Southern Backtones on upright bass for an Elvis’ Birthday/David Bowie mash-up including lots of Backtones tunes. Come dressed as Elvis! Jan 4th in Beaumont, TX. Pecos Hank, vocalist and guitarist for the band, also chases storms as you might have seen on National Geographic and the Weather Channel!

Gypsy Jazz Mornings return to Boomtown Coffee now on Wednesdays. Who knows who might drop in? Thanks to Kelly Doyle, Robert Ellis, Craig Kinsey, Will Van Horn, and Alicia Gianni for all stopping by last month!

November – December 2013:

Announcing Gypsy Jazz Tuesdays 9AM-11:00AM with the illustriously talented Kelly Doyle at Boomtown Coffee. Kelly leaves to tour with Robert Ellis in February (read about them in Rolling Stone Magazine and The Guardian). We’ll be launching through coffee-fueled deep-cut gypsy jazz tunes along with the usual standards.

10.05.2013 Playing at the Lovett Mansion Hostel in Montrose, 7:30-9:30, in honor of a Vickers and a Beck (congrats!!)

10.08.2013 Performing with the University of Houston Jazz Orchestra in a night of movie music. I’ll be rockin the archtop guitar and also hittin the banjo on a 1940′s Parisian arrangement of the music from Sherlock Holmes. 7:30PM.

September 2013
Had a fantastic recording sesh with Dan Workman and Alicia Gianni at ‘the bubble.’ Embarked on a grand experiment with multitracked triple iPhone recording. Dan worked some mix mojo and it’s haunting – going for the ‘look at this dusty record I found in the attic’ vibe. I tracked snare, banjo, and musical saw.

I did a little engineering and mixing for Craig’s new album with the outstanding Gospel Trio, Soul Fruit. Very cool group, fantastic people, and man can they sing! Tracked through the UA Apollo on a tasty Ribbon Mic. Lovely, lovely sound.

Finally, I’ll be attending the Grammy FutureNow Conferencein Austin 06.29.2013. Hope to see some folks there – I’ll post pictures as they come!

04.17.2013 Performing at Under the Volcano with Rally Terrill and Marcus Hughes. Gypsy Jazz Trio. 8PM

With the Kickstarter a resounding success, we went back into the studio with Steve Christensen mixing the new record. Lots of work to do on Craig’s 14 minute epic ballad about the Civil War. A marvelous song, very moving!

March 2013

New Album Out! Just completed and released, available now for free listen and download at Bandcamp, and on iTunes and Amazon on March 28 2013. A dark and stormy musical musing based on the 14 Stations of the Cross.

February 2013:

Tracking and mixing with Alicia Gianni and Dan Workman at Sugar Hill Studios for Alicia’s upcoming 2013 release. Sultry swing with some notes from the underground! We started last year, and this EP has grown into a full release. Dan, Alicia, and I are all producing and playing on the tunes. Here’s a shot of us in musical meditation. Mostly.

January 2013:

Just finished a short tour with Craig Kinsey opening for Hays Carll and Corb Lund at the House of Blues in Houston and Dallas, TX. The Dallas New Years show dropped 1000′s of balloons on us as all the bands played together on Will the Circle be Unbroken.

November 2013:

Mixing Craig Kinsey’s new album this month, American Roots and Blood. I’ll be producing and playing on the record that Craig wrote. We’re recording with Steve Christensen, as he is still hot off the heels of his win recording Steve Earle. Haunting turn of the century folk meets gypsy punk rock. Here’s a snap of the new band.